Re: Shelby 3/23/11

Shelby asked, "How can teachers and parents encourage students to be curious?"
Curiosity is an interest, desire, and thirst for knowledge. Curiosity is an instinct that we are born with and it is shown in the form of questions, exploration, wonder, and imagination. If you never question or seek answers how will you learn anything? As soon as babies are able to form questions, they never stop. They are curious about the world and all parents can do is answer those questions. The disappearance or diminishment of curiosity is likely due to external factors.
There are somethings that teachers can do to install the drive of curiosity in their students. The first that comes to mind is a technique that Professor Johnson uses in his teaching style, have students to ask questions. At the end of every Q&A and every blog post we have to end in a question or two. Asking questions enables one to receive answers and further their knowledge and inquiries. Another technique to install curiosity is to explore or research topics that one is interested in. Teachers at times have their students pick from a list of topics for papers or projects, this is important for the activation of curiosity because no one is curious about what they do not care about (yet maybe they are curious to why they do not care). A third method could be making the topic taught interesting. Teachers at times just resort to classic methods of teaching instead of thinking outside of the box. There are many ways to teach geometry or how to read getting students involved in what they are learning will make them want to learn more. A fourth method is having teachers ask the students questions that way they must wonder and formulate an answer. Answering a question involves puzzle piecing and if a student must answer a question, they then understand what is missing in order for them to answer it. By being asked they figure out what they do not know. And the final thing to do, which is a common practice among teachers, is to tell their students that their is no such thing as a dumb question and always leave class time to go over any confusion or further questions.
Question: Have you ever been told that you ask too many questions or has a teacher ever discouraged you to ask questions in a class?